


Five Years Later, the Way Things Should Have Been

by iamtheenemy (Steph)



Category: HIStory3 - 那一天 | HIStory3: Make Our Days Count (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Established Relationship, Fuck Canon, M/M, Protective Haoting, Sick Fic, We only acknowledge the Life~Love on the Line canon ending in this household, grad school, very very soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:48:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28136454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steph/pseuds/iamtheenemy
Summary: “Yu laoshi, I heard you’re not feeling well.”“Nothing serious,” Yu Xigu assured her.He looked like he was about to say something else, but just then, the guy who had been on his phone in the hallway strode into the room without even knocking.
Relationships: Xiang Haoting/Yu Xigu
Comments: 11
Kudos: 91
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Five Years Later, the Way Things Should Have Been

**Author's Note:**

  * For [issen4](https://archiveofourown.org/users/issen4/gifts).



> I'm so glad I got your prompt! I've been thinking about writing something like this since I finished watching the show. I knew ahead of time what canon had in store for me so I never watched the last episode. Here's a story that takes place in the alternate reality where the show ended after episode nine. I hope you like it and happy holidays!  
> (And because 2020, I feel like I have to point out that Yu Xigu is just regular sick and not 'rona sick in this.)

**Wu YiHsuan:**

What is the point of being here if Yu Xigu isn’t?

**Zhao Hachi:**

I’m hungover and tired from last night, but I still did my makeup for this.

**Yang Cheng-En:**

Professor Wang is lost without him. I had to turn on the projector because he didn’t know how to do it himself.

**Zhao Hachi:**

He’s 200 years old, leave him alone.

**Liu Akemi:**

Where is he?? I’m so glad I signed up for the late lecture so that I know not to bother showing up.

**Wu YiHsuan:**

Jiang Zhao Peng just asked and the professor said he’s sick!!!! So he’s doing some work in the professor’s office instead.

**Zhao Hachi:**

Yu Xigu can’t get sick! He’s too skinny. A cold could kill him! uwu

**Yang Cheng-En:**

I hope he’s back on Wednesday. He’s the only reason I haven’t dropped this course yet.

**Liu Akemi:**

I’m going to try and ‘accidentally’ see him at the office. Girls and gays, I'm going in!

**Wu YiHsuan:**

Lucky!

**Zhao Hachi:**

Send pics!

* * *

Liu Akemi stopped to look at her reflection in the glass of a display case outside of Professor Wang’s room. She smoothed some flyaway hairs back into place and smiled to make sure there was no lipstick on her teeth.

Behind her, a tall guy in a gray coat was pacing the hallway with his phone held to his ear and the handles of a white plastic bag dangling from his fingers. His deep, booming voice was loud enough to get Akemi’s attention without her even trying to listen.

“Sun Bo, I don’t want to know that about Brother Zhigang!” the guy said before pretending to gag. “Why would you tell me that? That’s all I’m going to think about every time I see him from now on.”

Akemi met his gaze in the reflection of the glass. He smirked at her and raised one eyebrow, and she gave him a polite smile in return. Once she was satisfied with the way she looked, she hitched her backpack up on her shoulder and walked into the office.

Yu Xigu sat in the smaller desk in the corner, the one set aside for him, his eyes focused on the computer monitor. The office was a mess of papers and models of planets and solar systems - all except for Yu Xigu’s neat workspace, a tiny pocket of calm amidst all of the chaos.

Akemi rapped her knuckles on the doorframe to get Yu Xigu’s attention. He looked up and blinked at her. He looked miserable, his eyes were glassy and red-rimmed. Not that Akemi doubted he was sick. Yu Xigu had been her TA last semester too, and he never missed a lecture or a lab. He also clearly loved astronomy as much as Akemi did, which would have made class with him enjoyable even if he wasn’t this handsome.

He was so focused on the sky that he didn’t notice the fact that he had a fan club of science undergrads who did their best to work their schedules around the classes he was assigned to each semester. There was a whole Facebook group dedicated to updating each other on times and dates of his office hours and planned study sessions -- and the occasional sneaky picture taken during lectures or when someone bumped into him around campus.

“Yu laoshi?” she said in greeting.

Yu Xigu gave her a polite but confused smile.

“Liu Akemi, hello. Can I help you with something?” he asked.

She grinned back at him and recited her planned excused for the visit.

“My printer broke, so I couldn’t print a copy of today’s homework. I was on my way to the library when I saw you in here. Would you mind?”

Their assignments got uploaded to the class website, but Professor Wang insisted on hard copies of all completed work. He probably couldn’t navigate it on his own. Akemi had once seen Yu Xigu explain to him how to twitch to the next PowerPoint slide during a lecture. Usually this requirement was annoying and bad for the environment. But just this once, it worked in Akemi’s favor.

“Ah,” he answered. “Of course. I’ll pull it up. You’re in the late session, right?”

“Yes,” she replied. “Yu laoshi, I heard you’re not feeling well.”

“Nothing serious,” Yu Xigu assured her.

He looked like he was about to say something else, but just then, the guy who had been on his phone in the hallway strode into the room without even knocking.

“Yu Xigu, what are you doing here?” he asked as he dropped the plastic bag on the desk.

Yu Xigu rubbed his nose with the back of his hand sheepishly - so cute! How is he so cute?! - and said, “I wanted to get some work done.”

“You’re _sick_ ,” the guy replied. He placed one giant hand on Yu Xigu’s forehead and the corners of his mouth turned down. “You’ve got a fever.”

Just then, Liu Akemi’s assignment spit out of the printer on Yu Xigu’s desk.

“Here you go,” Yu Xigu said, handing it to her.

“Thank you,” she replied and couldn’t think of any other reason to stay, especially with his friend there. “I hope you feel better, Yu laoshi.”

“Thank you, Liu Akemi. I’m sure I’ll see you next week.”

“OK, bye-bye.”

Akemi walked out of the office and then waited a second before peeking through the doorway and snapping a picture. She hurried away while pulling up the photo. In it, Yu Xigu was staring at his friend with a tired smile. His friend was half sitting on the desk and invading Yu Xigu's personal space. One of his hands was on Yu Xigu's thigh. Akemi froze, using her fingers to enlarge the image. Oh. _Oh._ She wouldn’t risk posting this to the Facebook group. It would be way too obvious that she took it. That didn’t stop her from sending it to the group chat she had with her friends, though, giggling a little to herself as she imagined their reactions.

* * *

Xiang Haoting pressed a kiss to his boyfriend’s overly-warm forehead and sighed.

“I bet you didn’t even eat before you left,” he said.

Yu Xigu grimaced and glanced away guiltily, which was all the answer Haoting needed.

He pulled the bento box out of the bag and pushed it towards Xigu. Haoting had stopped to buy it on the way to the university once he got home from class and realized Xigu was gone.

“Here, eat,” Haoting ordered.

Yu Xigu turned back to the computer screen. “I’m not hungry right now.”

Haoting rolled his eyes. “Come on, if you’re going to insist on working when you should be resting, you at least need some energy.”

“Just let me finish filling out this grant proposal,” his stubborn boyfriend said.

With a growl, Haoting kicked the leg of Xigu's chair so that Xigu faced him. He gripped each armrest, trapping Xigu as he bent his head close.

“Bento or me, choose one,” he said.

The smile this earned Haoting was one of the small, sweet ones that still made his heart race inside of his chest, even after all this time. Yu Xigu clearly remembered getting the same ultimatum years ago, back when Haoting first realized his feelings and started chasing him. He hadn’t stopped chasing him since.

But Yu Xigu refused to play out his part of this memory. Instead of cowering and reluctantly eating the food Haoting brought him, the way he did back then, this older, braver Yu Xigu met his eyes and said, “I choose you.”

Haoting groaned and captured Yu Xigu’s lips in a heated kiss. His boyfriend allowed it for a moment, even opening up his mouth to deepen it, before pushing him away.

“Don’t, I’ll get you sick,” Yu Xigu said. Then, as if in punctuation, he turned his head and coughed into his elbow.

Haoting resisted the urge to point out that any germs Yu Xigu had must have already got passed to him in the bed they shared. Instead, he grinned cheekily and said, “Then I’ll be the happiest sick man ever.”

Xigu rolled his eyes at him. “How are you so cheesy?”

“How are you so gorgeous?”

The outrageous flirting worked like a charm, making Yu Xigu’s pale, clammy cheeks fill with color. Haoting smirked and pushed the food closer to him.

“Eat and then let’s go home.”

“I told Professor Wang I would finish this today,” Yu Xigu said.

“He’ll understand,” Haoting answered and then changed tactics. He cupped the back of Yu Xigu’s neck and began to massage the tense muscles there in the way he’d learned helped relieve Yu Xigu’s frequent stress headaches.

Xigu instantly stilled, his eyelids fluttering shut and his mouth softening. He dropped his chin to his chest and listed to the side until his head rested against Haoting’s hip. When Haoting rubbed his thumb behind his ear, Yu Xigu breathed a shaky sigh and shivered from the touch.

“Let me take care of you,” Haoting murmured in a low voice.

“You always take care of me,” Yu Xigu said.

“Well, it’s the only thing I’m good at,” he replied.

Yu Xigu raised his head and glared at him, looking adorably fierce on Haoting’s behalf. “You’re good at lots of things.”

Haoting wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Oh, I am, am I?”

“Xiang Haoting, stop it!” Yu Xigu hissed, glancing at the open door. “Not here.”

“Ok, ok,” he agreed. Then he stepped behind Yu Xigu to give his neck and shoulders a proper massage. “I just worry. You try to do so much. We’re not in high school anymore, you don’t have to push yourself like this.”

“I don’t like falling behind,” Yu Xigu confessed.

Haoting focused on loosening the stubborn knots under his hands. “How can you fall behind when you’re always ten steps ahead of everyone else?” he asked. “When is that grant proposal due?”

Yu Xigu hesitated and then admitted, “In two weeks.”

Haoting scoffed. “I knew it,” he said.

“Don’t you have class today?” Yu Xigu asked, in a transparent attempt to change the subject.

“It’s already over,” Haoting said.

“Wha…?” Yu Xigu glanced at his watch and startled. “I didn’t realize it was that late.” As if on cue, his stomach rumbled loudly, like his body had just caught up with his brain. Yu Xigu looked chagrined.

“Eat,” Haoting ordered without even bothering to gloat.

With a self-deprecating smile, Yu Xigu pulled the bento box over to him and cracked apart the chopsticks. "Thank you," he said.

Haoting responded this a firm stroke of his thumbs right where Xigu's neck met his shoulders. “Who was that girl here earlier?” he asked when Yu Xigu took his first bite of chicken and carrots.

“Who?” Yu Xigu replied, mouth full. “Oh, one of my students.”

Haoting hummed thoughtfully as he dragged his knuckles down Yu Xigu’s bony spine. Even though Xiang Haoting had made it his mission to get him to eat well every day, he was still so skinny.

“Making the undergrads fall in love with you again, huh?” Haoting said, recalling the way the girl had checked over her reflection before she knocked on the office door.

Yu Xigu stopped with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. “She’s not in love with me,” he said.

Yes, yes. Just like there weren't girls sneaking pictures of him studying, and one of the baristas in their favorite coffeeshop gave Yu Xigu his drinks for free out of the goodness of his heart. Just like it had to be a trick when Xiang Haoting said he liked him in high school. “I know what it looks like to have a hopeless crush on Yu Xigu,” Haoting replied. He thought for a moment and then mused out loud, “Maybe I should pick you up after class from now on.”

“Don’t start,” Yu Xigu said. “Anyway, your crush on me wasn’t hopeless.”

How ridiculous for Haoting to be so touched by that, considering they’d been together for over five years. But his heart was weak for Yu Xigu, always had been. There was no reasoning with it at times like these.

“Oh?” he said. “Well then, take me home and remind me who you belong to.”

Yu Xigu rolled his eyes. “Please. You never let me forget.”

“Ok,” Haoting answered, leaning down until his lips brushed Yu Xigu’s ear. “So take me home and remind me who _I_ belong to.”

He knew he won when Yu Xigu’s eyes darkened and his tongue peeked out to swipe over his bottom lip.

Haoting backed up, satisfied. “Eat first,” he said.

* * *

“My parents want us to stay with them the whole weekend for New Year's,” Haoting said as he slid the key into the bolt on the door of their condo.

“That will give us longer to see Sun Bo and Brother Zhigang,” Yu Xigu said.

“Mm, and longer for you and dad to plot new ways to make my life miserable,” Haoting complained. It took nearly a full year of being together, but his parents had come around to accepting Yu Xigu. His mother had melted the moment Haoting told her about what happened to Xigu's family. It had taken his father longer, but once he realized how much sway Xigu had over Haoting - that Haoting would do anything to keep him happy - the two of them had started teaming up against him.

His dad and Yu Xigu's combined scheming is how Haoting found himself in graduate school. Not for astronomy like Yu Xigu, but for engineering, a subject Haoting discovered that he enjoyed much more. Did he like his classes? Sure, but that wasn’t the point, was it?

“ _Make my life miserable_ ,” Yu Xigu mimicked. “So dramatic, Xiang Haoting.”

“I bet your red envelope will be bigger than mine,” Haoting moaned. “My parents like you more.”

He could fake annoyance, but Haoting still remembered all too well when his father hated Yu Xigu for corrupting his son. He’d take their plotting over that any day.

Yu Xigu didn’t bother responding, just shot him a disbelieving look as he removed his shoes in the doorway. When he went for his knit cap, Haoting stopped him.

“Let me,” he said and gently took it off, hanging it on a rung of the coat rack. Haoting then unwound the scarf from his neck and started on the buttons of his winter jacket.

“I can do it myself,” Yu Xigu told him fondly, but stayed still to let Haoting continue.

“I want to,” Haoting said.

The jacket joined the other items. Haoting shucked off his own set, then cupped Yu Xigu’s jaw with both of his hands and frowned. He was burning up.

“Have you taken any medicine?” Haoting asked, already aware of the answer.

Yu Xigu shook his head, and with a sigh, Haoting took his hand and led him to their bed.

“I’ll be right back,” he promised. He retrieved two pills from the medicine cabinet along with a glass of water. “Here, take these and finish the water.”

Yu Xigu did as he was told and handed the empty glass back to Haoting. Then he settled back onto the pillows and asked, “How do you want to do it?”

Haoting hesitated. “You’re sick,” he said.

“Yes,” Yu Xigu answered. Then, playing dirty, he looked up at Haoting from under his long eyelashes and said, “I thought Xiang Haoting was going to take care of me.”

“You…” Haoting growled, sweat immediately prickling the back of his neck at those words. He crawled onto the bed and made short work of their clothes, careful not to handle Xigu too roughly.

They kissed sweetly as Haoting covered Xigu, balancing his weight on his own elbows and knees. Yu Xigu’s familiar arms wrapped around Haoting’s back and held him in place for a long moment before Haoting moved off of him and urged Xigu onto his side.

“Like this,” Haoting said, pressing a kiss to the narrow jut of his shoulder. It seemed like the position that would cause the least strain. He put his hand under Yu Xigu’s knee and urged him to bend his leg up.

The lube and condoms were in the drawer on the bedside table. Haoting grabbed them both and prepped himself and then Xigu.

The first tight, slick slide inside made them both gasp, and Haoting hooked his chin over Xigu’s shoulder and waited for him to adjust. Haoting would never get over how perfectly Xigu fit into the curve of his body, like they were made for each other. His arm wrapped around Xigu’s waist, keeping him close. Xigu linked their hands together as he turned his head and kissed Haoting’s cheek once.

“You belong to me,” Yu Xigu whispered, ghosting his lips over Haoting’s jaw.

“Yes,” Haoting agreed, hips hitching at the words, at the simple fact of it. “Yes, I’m yours.”

“Xiang Haoting,” Yu Xigu said, rubbing the thumb of his free hand over Haoting’s cheekbone. “My Xiang Haoting. Make me come.”

Haoting began to move.

* * *

"Oh, please!" Akemi said as the rest of them laughed.

"I'm serious!" Zhao Hachi defended herself. "It's not like they were kissing or anything. They could just be friends."

"We're friends. I've never seen you look at _me_ that way," Cheng-En said. 

"Who wants to look at you at all?" Hachi shot back and stuck her tongue out. 

"The same guy has been in the hallway after my lecture waiting for him," Akemi said.

"Friends do that," Hachi said. Akemi looked at Wu YiHsuan and they both rolled their eyes.

"I can't believe that I found Yu laoshi actually plays for my team, but he's already taken," Cheng-En complained. "Why is the universe so cruel?"

"Wait!" YiHsuan hissed, grabbing Akemi's arm. "Stop, stop. Isn't that them right there?"

Akemi looked over to where she was pointing, and sure enough, Yu Xigu and the guy she'd seen with him in the office that day were sitting at a picnic table in a tucked away part of the quad, behind the large library. 

Without having to discuss it, all four of them crept up to the side of the building and hid behind the snow-covered ivy that crawled up the side. 

"Happy birthday," the guy said to Yu Xigu. He slid a small, thin rectangular box across the table towards him.

Akemi nudged Hachi and raised an eyebrow at her. 

"Friends give each other birthday gifts," Hachi whispered.

Yu Xigu picked up the box and then looked at the guy. "Xiang Haoting, I told you that you didn't need to get me anything."

"You tell me that every year," the guy - Xiang Haoting - replied.

"And you ignore me every year," Yu Xigu said.

"And I'm going to keep ignoring you. Now open your gift."

Yu Xigu lifted the lid and Akemi held her breath. The box seemed about the right size for a necklace or bracelet. Guy friends didn't give each other jewelry, right? But to her surprise - and Yu Xigu's - what he pulled out was a folded up sheet of paper. He glanced down at it and then back to Xiang Haoting, who smiled encouragingly.

"Read it," he said.

Yu Xigu unfolded the paper and scanned it. Then he sucked in a loud breath, and the paper slipped from his grasp and fluttered onto the table.

"What?" he croaked. It sounded like he had trouble pushing that single word out of his throat.

Xiang Haoting cupped Yu Xigu's face with one big hand. His own expression was soft and fond. Akemi became uncomfortably aware that they were intruding on a very private moment.

"We can work up to the Himalayan Mountains," Xiang Haoting said, a reference Yu Xigu understood, judging by the way he smiled. "But you told me that the Northern Lights are the most beautiful sight on Earth, which means your parents will definitely be there. And that's good, because I need their blessing for when I ask you to marry me."

Yu Xigu bent over, covering his face with his hands. "I love you," he said, his voice thick.

Akemi traded looks with her friends. They quietly snuck away just as Xiang Haoting gathered Yu Xigu against his chest and kissed the top of his head.

When they got back to the main thoroughfare, Akemi, YiHsuan and Cheng-En all looked at Hachi.

"Ok, fine. They're probably dating," she conceded.

**Author's Note:**

> Everything I know about coming up with Taiwanese names, I learned from Google. So please tell me if any of them are ridiculous.
> 
> Consider this blanket permission to use this story for any remix, podfic, translation, fanart or other transformative work you'd like, but please inform me, credit me and provide me any links so that I can include it in the notes.
> 
> Join me on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/theres-a-goldensky)!


End file.
